Paul Bentley was named as chief executive of the Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Hospitals Trust in June but the following month a national newspaper advertised the position on its appointments pages.

The News and Mail questioned this process but the trust said it was simply going through a formal public appointment process and would be interviewing candidates for the role.

Now, Mr Bentley has lost his job after re-applying and going through the interview process.

The new chief executive, Andrew Liles, is the former chief executive of the Royal West Sussex NHS Trust and he will join the organisation full-time in January.

Andy Hollebon, head of communications, said: “Following the interview process, Mr Bentley is taking a few days off.”

Mr Hollebon explained the plan was for Mr Bentley to return to the role of HR director, the post he was in before taking on the chief executive’s duties, but he was not sure of his plans in the long term.